, as it surely will, when you are off your
putting, take it out on to the links for the next round and see what you
can do with it. Your weakness on the green may no more have been the
fault of the other putter than the tourist was the cause of the
clergyman missing the little one at Glasgow, but very much will be
gained if you can persuade yourself that it was.

It is to a certain extent possible to be definite in remarking upon the
grip. Some good golfers clasp their putters tightly with both hands;
others keep the left hand loose and the right hand firm; and a third
selection do the reverse, each method being justified on its day. But in
this part of the game it is quite clear that the right hand has more
work to do than the left. It is the right hand that makes the stroke,
and therefore I consider that it should be allowed plenty of play, and
that the left wrist should be held more loosely than the right. For my
part I use the same overlapping grip in putting as in all the other
strokes, making just this one small variation, that instead of allowing
the right thumb to fall over the shaft, as when driving or playing
through the green, I place it on the top of the shaft and pointing down
it. This seems to me to make for accuracy.

In playing what we may call an ordinary putt, that is to say, one
presenting no difficulties in the way of stymies, slopes of the green,
or anything of that kind, I think it pays best in the long run to make a
point of always hitting the ball with the middle of the face of the
club, although, I believe, Willie Park, one of the greatest of putters,
always hits the ball off the toe of the club and comes in to the hole
from the right-hand side of it. Other players consistently and by design
half top the ball when they are putting. There should be no sharp hit
and no jerk in the swing, which should have the even gentle motion of a
pendulum. In the backward swing, the length of which, as in all other
strokes in golf, is regulated by the distance it is desired to make the
ball travel, the head of the putter should be kept exactly in the line
of the putt. Accuracy will be impossible if it is brought round at all.
There should be a short follow-through after impact, varying, of course,
according to the length of the putt. In the case of a long one, the club
will go through much further, and then the arms would naturally be more
extended. In the follow-through the putter should be kept well down, the